Witton Lakes are a pair of former drinking water

Drinking water

Drinking water or potable water is water pure enough to be consumed or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm. In most developed countries, the water supplied to households, commerce and industry is all of drinking water standard, even though only a very small proportion is actually...

 reservoirs between the Perry Common

Perry Common

Perry Common is an area of Kingstanding, in the constituency of Erdington, Birmingham, England.College High School is located in Perry Common as are the Hawthorn Shopping Centre on Hawthorn Road and Witton Lakes....

 and Erdington

Erdington

Erdington is a suburb northeast of Birmingham city centre, England and bordering Sutton Coldfield. It is also a council constituency, managed by its own district committee...

 areas of Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 (not in nearby Witton

Witton, West Midlands

Witton is an inner city area in Birmingham, England, in the metropolitan county of the West Midlands. It was within the ancient parish of Aston in the Hemlingford hundred of the historic county of Warwickshire...

).

Two brooks, arising at Kingstanding

Kingstanding

Kingstanding is an area in north Birmingham, England. It gives its name to a ward in the Erdington council constituency. Kingstanding ward includes the areas; Perry Common, St. Mary's College, Witton Lakes and parts of Kingstanding, Wyrley Birch and New Oscott...

 and Bleak Hill, Erdington

Erdington

Erdington is a suburb northeast of Birmingham city centre, England and bordering Sutton Coldfield. It is also a council constituency, managed by its own district committee...

, respectively, feed first Witton Lakes, then overspill into Brookvale Park Lake

Brookvale Park Lake

Brookvale Park Lake is a former drinking water reservoir in the Erdington area of Birmingham, England.Two brooks, arising at Kingstanding and Bleak Hill, Erdington, respectively, feed first Witton Lakes, then overspill into Brookvale Park Lake, before reaching the River Tame, and ultimately the...

, before reaching the River Tame

River Tame, West Midlands

The River Tame is the main river of the West Midlands, and the most important tributary of the River Trent. The Tame is about 40 km from source at Oldbury to its confluence with the Trent near Alrewas, but the main river length of the entire catchment, i.e...

.

The brooks are natural; the lakes were created at the end of the 19th century to supply drinking water for Birmingham. They were then in the countryside, and the water relatively clean. Industrialisation

Industrialisation

Industrialization is the process of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial one...

 and urban sprawl

Urban sprawl

Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a multifaceted concept, which includes the spreading outwards of a city and its suburbs to its outskirts to low-density and auto-dependent development on rural land, high segregation of uses Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a...

 led to the water no longer being fit for drinking, so the city turned to the Elan Valley

Elan Valley Reservoirs

The Elan Valley Reservoirs are a chain of man-made lakes and reservoirs in the Elan Valley in Powys, Mid Wales , using the rivers Elan and Claerwen...

 in Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 for a supply.

The lakes are now maintained as a leisure

Leisure

Leisure, or free time, is time spent away from business, work, and domestic chores. It is also the periods of time before or after necessary activities such as eating, sleeping and, where it is compulsory, education....

 amenity by Birmingham City Council

Birmingham City Council

The Birmingham City Council is the body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local authority in the United Kingdom with, following a reorganisation of boundaries in June 2004, 120 Birmingham...

. One is used for model boating and the other nature conservation. The north Birmingham cycle

Bicycle

A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....

route runs through the surrounding park.

External links

• The lakes are at
• Birmingham City Council page